Monday, May 21, 2012

I graduate from PA school this August and it's time to crack down on studying. We have a lot of exams we have to take in about five weeks and I've got a long way to go. I would much rather be hanging out here and checking out everyone's projects, but I've got to be a good student!

There are a few events that I've already signed up for, so I'll be popping in every now and then for those, but for the most part I'll be absent for a few months. Once I'm all finished with school I'll be back.

If I have time I'll try to pop in and say hi - I'll still be looking at all your awesome projects when I have a chance!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

I'm happily back on an ortho surgery rotation and having a freaking BLAST! Oh, you want me to hammer a rod into a femur? Sure, I'd love to! :)

I've got an awesome event to tell you all about - it's going to be the bee's knees!

This summer marks the start of the 2012 summer olympics. Don't you know we've got a little bloggy olympic action going on! This summer a group of some super bloggers are going to be hosting a six week bloggy olympics!

There will be 17 different blogs participating in 6 events over a six week period. The bloggy olympics will start June 9th and run until July 27th. Each week three blogs will share a simple tutorial that you can copy, or use as inspiration for that event's theme. At the end of the week the hosts of the event will each host a blog linky party for you to link up your finished event projects. You better believe there will be features, giveaways, and fun Olympic stuff!

The opening ceremony begins THURSDAY, JUNE 7th and runs until Friday, June 8th at midnight. If you are planning on joining in on any of the events in the Bloggy Olympics come link up your blog at the opening ceremony!

Oh, what are the events? Glad you asked! Here are the event themes with the fabulous hosts for each event:

Event 1 - Decorating (Week of Saturday, June 9th)

Delicate Construction

Hating Martha

Event 2 - Kitchen (Week of Saturday, June 16th)

Shaken Together

Adventures in Dinner

Let Birdz Fly

Event 3 - Paint (Week of Saturday, June 23rd)

Primitive & Proper

The Bold Abode

Craptastic (That's me!)

Event 4 - Craft (Week of Saturday, June 30th)

CW Frosting

Here's to Handy Andy

Freaking Craft

Event 5 - Fabric (Week of Saturday, July 7th)

DIY Home Sweet Home

Kissed By A Frog

Crafty Scientist

Event 6 - Outdoor (Week of Saturday, July 14th)

504 Main

Directions Not Included

Smallgood Hearth

Now, to get you started in on the fun, we have a great giveaway lined up for you! You have your chance to win your choice of an AWESOME pillow that was made special for this event by kijsa.

Here is a sneak peek at one of the pillows you can choose from if you win!

Ummm, yeah. That's pretty awesome! Hop on over to Hating Martha for the details!

Alina and T is offering you all 20% off anything in the shop with the code OLYMPICS20.

MaroDesigns is offering you all 10% off anything in the shop with the code OLYMPCS10.

And, because this is the bloggy olympics, here is my bloggy olympics pic and bio!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

I spent the morning with my Mom and my husband's side of the family. We meet at O'Charleys and have brunch every Mother's Day. We usually go to the park at Centennial and feed the ducks too, but it has been raining all day.

My Mom will kill me for putting this picture up, but I had to show where I get some of my faces from. I thought we were taking a cute picture and when I looked at the pictures I found this:

Haha! NICE!

Then I handed my Mom the camera to take one of me and the hubs - she's a little electronically challenged. We stood there forever waiting for her to take the picture and I finally asked her if she was taking the picture. Of course that's when she finally snapped the picture.

Another awesome photo for the family album.

Anyways! I made Mom some drip paint pots for Mother's Day!

I planted a flower in one, and some basil in the larger pot. I bought her some herb scissors since she's real into kitchen and garden knick-knacks. Turns out she's been wanting some since last Mother's Day! Score!

We then walked around Target and she got me this awesome owl thing for my pots!

$3.99 - Target. It's awesome!

And just cause I like how it looks, here's one of our plants with some rain on it.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

That's a direct quote from my 5 year old nephew, Logan. Yep, he does ninja moves.

The first time I heard Logan say this he was playing with Poppy (my father in law). At the in-law's house there is a long hallway in the back where all the rooms are located. Poppy will hide in the back bedroom and Logan and Emma will slowly creep down the hallway in the dark, all the time knowing that Poppy is back there, but still screaming in terror when he jumps out at them roaring like a monster.

Logan said this one night when he was acting tough going down the hallway into the dark. I could not stop laughing and told them a shirt had to be made!

I didn't get it done in time for his 5th birthday (just a few weeks ago) so I decided to make it for his preschool graduation which is tonight.

So here's how I made it without a silhouette or cricut machine - aka the ghetto way! :)

I started by googling a silhouette of a ninja and tracing it onto freezer paper. Next I typed "I do Ninja moves" in word using Matura MT script font, size 150.

I went digging through my scrap bin and found some fabrics I wanted to use for the ninja and the letters. I ironed fusible interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric (the light purple kind).

Iron the freezer paper onto the fabric that now has the fusible interfacing and cut your stuff out. The hardest part was cutting out the centers of letters like "O" and "E."

Once everything is cut out, place it onto the t-shirt, fusible side down, and slowly iron into place.

For this particular type of fusible interfacing it's best not to use steam. Also, press the iron down for a few seconds rather than moving it back and forth. This will prevent the letters from folding up on themselves.

Now it's ready to be top stitched!

I used black thread for the letters and red thread for the ninja - just to add a little pop of color.

Rather than backstitch and eventually have thread unraveling, I used a needle to rethread the strands to the inside of the shirt and I tied knots on the inside. I just think it makes a cleaner look.

Here it is all done!

This shows the stitching detail real close. I don't try to make it perfect, I like the wonky look. Over time the edges of the letters and ninja will fray a little.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

April is always a busy month for us in regards to birthdays. My nephew's birthday is the 21st, Dad on the 23rd, my neice on the 24th, and my mother in law on the 25th! Phew!

Every April my sister in law throws a joint birthday party for my neice and nephew. If you were around this time last year you might remember the chairs I refinished for them:

We went pretty simple this year for Logan - he's been talking about camping for years (literally, years) so we got him a lantern and a hatchet - don't worry, it's a NERF hatchet. We're not that Aunt and Uncle.

For Emma I decided to make her a scrap fabric tutu. She has this pink dress up tutu that she wears ALL THE TIME! So I figured I would give her another one for a little variety.

I picked up 1/4 yard of five different fabrics and 1/2 yard of two tulle colors then got to work! I referred to Designed By Dawn Nicole for help.

We bought some purple leggings to go with it. I couldn't wait for Emma to open her new tutu!

I was worried she wouldn't wear it because she was so attached to her other tutu. But she squealed when she pulled it out of the bag and her Mom helped her put it on!

Here she is twirling in it:

Notice those cute pink glitter shoes? Initially she was barefoot, but after she put on her tutu she ran to the closet and got her pink glitter shoes to match! It was hilarious!

After they opened all their presents I asked her to come outside and model her tutu for me. Poor thing was trying to dodge all the guests in the kitchen and ran into the corner of the island. She banged her head really hard, so she was still a little sad when I got a picture of her.

Poor Emma - she got some chocolate icecream and everything was ok again!

She wore it the rest of the party. We met the following Wednesday for our usual dinner and she was back in her pink dress up tutu! Haha!

I hope I have at least one little girl so I can dress her up in these! Would it be inappropriate for me to wear one? Maybe to a job interview, I'm sure I would impress!